Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic O Brother, Where Art Thou? (36/???)

ToC
A/N: Second half added as separate post in thread
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In space, no one can hear you singing like a love-sick idiot. Michel opened the narrow visor of his suit again, checking the location of his radioactive quarry, and paused to admire the view of the iridescent little planet below, cloaked in swirling mists. It really did look like a blue marble from up here; the distances that had seemed so vast were now rendered trivial, and national borders were completely meaningless. Somewhere down there, on a little smudge of green that dangled over Africa, the most beautiful woman in the universe was waiting for him to come back from a "dental appointment". It was ironic, really, how he finally felt a connection to this planet after learning he wasn't even from here at all....

A speeding pebble ricocheted off his helmet, reminding him of his mission. He let the visor fall closed again, plunging him into total darkness, and drifted in the direction of the asteroid fragments he'd seen. Even though he was already effectively blind, he nevertheless closed his eyes as he searched himself for feelings that weren't his own. 'Clark? Are you there?'

For some reason, Clark seemed...sleepy, for lack of a better word. Something about it just didn't make sense, which simply wouldn't do if Michel wanted to be heard. He focused on the feeling, growing even more confused at the muddled passivity. 'Clark, are you...drunk?!' he wondered to his friend. Was such a thing even possible for them? 'Clark?'

The passive feeling shifted into one of confusion, and suddenly, alarm.

'Clark?!'

'Hold on,' Clark's mind whispered, sounding faint and far away. The current of feelings became jumbled a bit, and before Michel could re-analyze it, Clark whispered again. 'Sorry, there was a magician... Um, is it okay to talk?'

Michel frowned at both the question and Clark's rapidly-growing sense of apprehension. 'Should I be asking you that question?'

Clark's mental voice became even quieter, to the point where Michel could only make out the words 'you', 'busy', and 'Susanne'. Embarrassment laced through him, to the point where he wasn't sure if it only belonged to Clark anymore.

'Oh! Yes, yes, it is fine, now; I am alone. Is that why I have not heard from you in over two weeks?!'

'I haven't heard from you either,' Clark pointed out, sounding much more clear now.

'Ah.' Michel chuckled, unable to muster any guilt over the matter. 'I have been a little busy, lately.'

Oh good lord, Clark was blushing! He had to be! Michel cut his laughter short so as not to deplete his oxygen supply.

'I just wanted to ask you something very quickly,' Michel began, coming back to his purpose. 'It is perfectly alright if you say no.'

'What is it?' Clark asked, radiating curiosity.

'Would you be willing to fly up into space and gather some remnants of the Nightfall asteroid, for me and Susanne to study?'

For a moment, the silence in his head was so profound that Michel thought that they'd lost the connection. 'That asteroid is made of Kryptonite,' Clark pointed out.

Michel opened his visor again, elated to see a shimmering, fist-sized specimen floating just beyond his reach. He let the visor fall shut once more and groped blindly at his prize. 'Yes, I know.' In fact, he had been the one to relay as much to Clark mere moments before they both slammed head-first into it. The memory made him shudder.

'It would be extremely dangerous to just...fly around up there, picking up pieces of it,' Clark went on.

'Yes, yes, of course,' Michel agreed. He felt the fragment bump against his gauntlet, and he cursed. Another brief lift of his visor showed that it was indeed now speeding away, knocking into another large piece like a billiard and sending it flying off.

He could feel Clark's suspicion growing. 'Michel, where exactly are you right now?'

Michel lifted the visor again. 'About 150,000 kilometers above Asia, I believe.'

There was another stretch of mental silence. 'What?' Clark finally replied.

The suit inhibited Michel's automatic shrug. 'As I said, it is perfectly fine for you to refuse; I simply told Susanne that I would ask Superman for this favor if I ever had the chance, and now I have! Of course, I don't need to mention your actual response, nor should I need to explain where these samples really came from. Clever, no?'

He felt another piece of debris knock against him, and he fought to catch it before it went scuttling off into the void. After a minute or so, he heard Clark's voice in his head again. 'Michel? What on Earth are you wearing?!'


**********

Clark hovered high over the Pacific, just a bit beyond the point where the thinning air finally vanished altogether, and stared at the distant figure that had to be Michel but looked more like a cross between a robot and a medieval knight.

'Do you like it?' Michel's voice asked in his head, and Clark could feel the grin. 'It is my asteroid collection suit! Or rather, I suppose that it is *your* asteroid collection suit, since I said that it was for Superman. Belated Joyous Christmas, I suppose? I hope you don't mind me borrowing it first, however.'

Clark rolled his eyes while Michel flailed in the direction of a chunk of glowing rock. 'Remind me again why saving people is too risky, but playing in a field of Kryptonite isn't?'

He could feel something like a snort. 'Do you see any reporters up here?'

'Well...' Clark began.

'Besides you,' Michel cut in. 'And anyway, I am perfectly safe, thanks to this suit. It was Susanne's idea.' Clark felt a sudden wave of dreamy adoration. 'The lead is thick enough to completely block the radiation! Although, er, there are a few drawbacks...' He continued groping for the asteroid fragment.

'A bit to your left,' Clark thought out helpfully from the safety of his vantage point. 'Um, Michel? About you and Susanne...' Another wave of bliss rolled through him, and he physically drifted a little further from Michel. 'We, uh, might need a better lock on this mental thing; a way to block each other, or maybe even something like a tie-on-the-doorknob.'

Michel paused, still gripping the piece of rock Clark had guided him to. 'I see.' Clark could feel the gears turning. Could their mental connection be blocked? What were the limitations of it?

Clark thought of Lois in the newsroom, trying to telepathically reach out to Superman. Was it possible for them to contact other people with this ability? Or was it exclusively between Kryptonians—or even just between *them*?

'We should start experimenting,' Michel decided. 'Although, I would prefer not to involve Susanne.'

Clark felt his face heat up.

'Oh, mother of—I was talking about trying to connect with other people!' Michel explained, lifting his visor with his free hand in order to glare at him. 'Of course we will practice the blocking another way; perhaps an inverse of that card-seeing exercise your parents had us try before. Do you suppose they will want to help us again?'

'I don't see why not', Clark thought. He looked down at the planet below, trying to locate Kansas below the cloud-cover. The mottled blue and green ball reminded him of something. 'Hey, Michel? Do you remember that globe I've got?'

'Yes...?'

'The one that somehow told us that we were from Krypton?'

There were no responding words in his head, but he could feel Michel's curiosity crackle and flare like fire that had just found kindling.

Clark slowly turned back to his friend. 'Do you think...we can talk back?'

TBC...